OPTIMIST THE
FRIDAY November 12, 2004
Department of Journalism and Mass Communication
Abilene Christian University
Vol. 93, No. 24 1 section, 10 pages www.acuoptimist.com
Serving the ACU community since 1912
Finishing touches:
Residence hall to honor first president:
Incredibly funny:
Danieal Manning and Clayton Farrell were named first-team all-conference. Page 10
The new residence hall being built across from Brown Library will be named after A.B. Barret, ACU’s founder and first president. Page 7
Pixar’s latest creation, The Incredibles, offers laughs of superhero proportions. Page 4
Campus includes The WB on cable
Spreading ‘The Virus’ International Students Association culture show to debut Friday By BRIAN SCHMIDT STUDENT REPORTER
Ethnos: The Virus, is this year’s installment of the annual International Students Association culture show that will take place Friday and Saturday in Cullen Auditorium. Ethnos, a word that means people of the same race or nationality who share a distinctive culture, is the title given to the culture show by Carlos Macias, former ISA president. Macias, senior architectural graphics major from Torreon, Mexico, named the program Ethnos when he began as the director three years ago. “The culture show was originally a talent show featuring international student cultures,” said Rachel Lau, ISA public relations director. “Carlos started the Ethnos label and made the culture show more than just a talent show to where it is a performance with a theme and a message.” Lau, sophomore photojournalism major from Penang, Malaysia, said she believes that this has now enhanced the show’s purpose and has unified more cultures in a better way. “The purpose of the show is to gather the various cultures and traditions together from around campus, creating unity and spreading our message to the whole community,” Lau said. “People are surrounded by so many different cultures, and they don’t realize it; Ethnos is a good, eye-opening experience.” Macias has instituted the general title of Ethnos with a new theme each year. The themes have been Culture Reload, The Hero and now The Virus. Each time the program has changed the message as well as its presentation. “This year’s theme, The Virus, is very deep,” Macias said. “It goes beyond simply entertaining and deals with issues we are going through today—things that are taking place here at ACU. Not only do we have the cultures of inter-
Station becomes Channel 9 after Barnard agrees to add channel By LORI BREDEMEYER MANAGING EDITOR
See ETHNOS Page 8
BRIAN SCHMIDT/Chief Photographer
The group Zatouichi performs a Japanese dance at the dress rehearsal for ‘Ethnos: The Virus’ on Wednesday in Cullen Auditorium.
BRIAN SCHMIDT/Chief Photographer
Garima Gandhir, sophomore biology major, and Chiamaka Ofoh, sophomore biology major from Lagos, Nigeria, perform “Punjabi Bhangra,” an Indian dance, at the Ethnos dress rehearsal Wednesday night in Cullen Auditorium.
Spring class enrollment higher than normal Students registering for average of 13 hours for next semester By MALLORY SHERWOOD STAFF WRITER
Spring enrollment is up in the number of students registering after a three-year slump, but it is down in the average number of hours students are
taking, said Lisa McCarty, assistant director of the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment. As of Nov. 3, more than 3,300 students had registered for an average of 13 hours, McCarty said, which is down from last semester. “Students could be taking fewer hours for a number of reasons,” said Martha Renfro, assistant to the dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences. Renfro also said the number of classes offered hasn’t changed significantly to affect student’s hours. Some students are taking fewer hours because they felt they simply needed a change. “I am taking a lighter load this semester because I really need to concentrate on my schoolwork,” said Caddie Coupe, sophomore organiza-
tional communication major from Thousand Oaks, Calif. “Because of pledging this semester, I couldn’t focus on my grades as much as I would have liked, so this spring I really want to get my GPA up again.” Others couldn’t take the classes they had wanted to. “I am taking less hours this semester because I couldn’t get into some of the classes that I
By JONATHAN SMITH EDITOR
IN
CHIEF
Soda bottles lined the desk around the 20-inch Macintosh displays — workstations in the Industrial Technology building that would be packed and gone in 15 hours. Sound clips and dialogue played over and over as edi-
tors worked to perfect their films, which had to be completed by the time the workstations were returned to Apple Computers. With less than a day to finish, some still considered cutting entire scenes to reduce their films to no more than seven minutes. “The fight scene is imperative,” thought one editor aloud, “but the chase scene …” “The chase scene is my See FILMFEST Page 9
E-mail Sherwood at: mes02e@acu.edu
See WB Page 8
SA approves Sikes parking project
FilmFest premiere to light Paramount Evening will include viewing of finalists, awarding of prizes
needed,” said Christel Pitts, freshman graphic design major from Richardson. “I ended up just settling for less hours.” Despite the fewer hours, the university is pleased at the number of students enrolling this semester because it is up for this time of year, McCarty said.
Cable TV on campus received an upgrade on Monday when The WB was added to Channel 9. Marie Nordman, freshman political science major from Bridgeport, and Valerie Hanneken, freshman journalism major from Garland, both Students’ Association representatives for Gardner Hall, researched and brought a presentation before Dr. Wayne Barnard, dean of Campus Life, requesting that the network be included in the campus’ list of stations. Hanneken said they got the idea about a month after school began, and they discussed it with the women in their hall. “It was a concern of ours, and it was a concern of our constituents as well,” she said. The representatives surveyed the Gardner Hall residents to see if they watched The WB off campus, and they included that information and a petition in their presentation. Hanneken said they also researched the show’s ratings, which helped determine whether the channel could be added. Barnard said the programming on various stations helps him decide what to include on campus cable. “Obviously, holistically, as a Christian university we try to pay attention to the things that are not what we would consider promoting who we are a Christians,” he said, “and that’s a tough call with respect to cable. Because it is our cable, we make choices of what’s OK to air and what’s not.” ACU buys its cable from Cox Communications, and Barnard said the university has a set number of channels. Because of the limitations, he decides which networks will be aired. Barnard said students have requested to add The WB before, and he had even considered adding it before the women approached him. He said many students
Congress will ask university to connect lots by Sikes Hall By JONATHAN SMITH EDITOR IN CHIEF
BRIAN SCHMIDT/Chief Photographer
April Cordero, sophomore electronic media major from Abilene, edits her video as John Bemrich, student from Cisco Junior College, watches in the Industrial Technology building Oct. 13. Students’ videos for FilmFest were due the following morning.
Student Congress unanimously passed a bill Wednesday recommending to the university to connect the parking lots between Sikes Hall and the Williams Performing Arts Center. Rep. Lauren Hart, Sikes Hall, who presented the bill,
said connecting the lots would create better traffic flow around the hall and make the area safer. The area of concern in the north section of the Sikes lot only has one-way traffic and comes to a dead end. Hart, sophomore integrated marketing and communication major from Austin, said Jimmy Ellison, chief of ACU Police, and Kevin Watson, chief administrative services officer, have given their support for the project, See SA Page 8